Post by roaring20s on May 24, 2010 22:35:13 GMT -6
This label was enough to peak my curiosity.
The Soup Song was born out of labor strikes, union organization and the great depression. The target audience was the disenfranchised. As with other songs like it, it used a recognizable melody with new lyrics. My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean is its familiar tune. The message was that for all your obedient labors, for all of your sacrifices, and all of your savings and prayers, all you have ended up with is a bowl of soup from the soup kitchens. Its purpose was to sway this group to left wing ideals. Maurice Sugar, a Detroit labor attorney, composed this in 1931 after a talk he gave at a homeless shelter there.
The Timely Recording Company of N.Y.C. produced the first labor songs connected to the Communist Party. This is one of those records. There are two other discs in this set of proletarian song released in 1935 and sung by the New Singers. The Party never took an official stand on the role of folk music in promoting its goals. Another Timely set of (3) labor folk song recordings was released in 1937 and sung by the Manhattan Chorus.
The flip side's imagery was obviously selected to further rally against the growth of Fascism in Europe. The song mentions various oppressions, but the rally call is to Go Left. The score's composer is Hanns Eisler, a German Marxist who came to the USA in 1933 fleeing Nazi Germany. Later in film he was twice nominated for an Oscar for best score. The first to be blacklisted in Hollywood, he was deported to East Germany in 1948. The lyrics to United Front was penned by playwright Berthold Brecht, who also fled Germany in 1933 over his Communistic works. Actor Peter Lorre studied under Brecht.
Following on the heels of these and other activist songs, political and not, would come the Almanac Singers with Pete Seeger and Woody Guthry. In the 1940s, Asch Records, Disc Records and Folkways would become leaders in recording a wide variety of folk music traditions.
Collecting antiques, phonographs and music has never ceased to amaze me. So many interesting facts and connections arise ... American Communist Records ... who knew?
James.
The Soup Song was born out of labor strikes, union organization and the great depression. The target audience was the disenfranchised. As with other songs like it, it used a recognizable melody with new lyrics. My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean is its familiar tune. The message was that for all your obedient labors, for all of your sacrifices, and all of your savings and prayers, all you have ended up with is a bowl of soup from the soup kitchens. Its purpose was to sway this group to left wing ideals. Maurice Sugar, a Detroit labor attorney, composed this in 1931 after a talk he gave at a homeless shelter there.
The Timely Recording Company of N.Y.C. produced the first labor songs connected to the Communist Party. This is one of those records. There are two other discs in this set of proletarian song released in 1935 and sung by the New Singers. The Party never took an official stand on the role of folk music in promoting its goals. Another Timely set of (3) labor folk song recordings was released in 1937 and sung by the Manhattan Chorus.
The flip side's imagery was obviously selected to further rally against the growth of Fascism in Europe. The song mentions various oppressions, but the rally call is to Go Left. The score's composer is Hanns Eisler, a German Marxist who came to the USA in 1933 fleeing Nazi Germany. Later in film he was twice nominated for an Oscar for best score. The first to be blacklisted in Hollywood, he was deported to East Germany in 1948. The lyrics to United Front was penned by playwright Berthold Brecht, who also fled Germany in 1933 over his Communistic works. Actor Peter Lorre studied under Brecht.
Following on the heels of these and other activist songs, political and not, would come the Almanac Singers with Pete Seeger and Woody Guthry. In the 1940s, Asch Records, Disc Records and Folkways would become leaders in recording a wide variety of folk music traditions.
Collecting antiques, phonographs and music has never ceased to amaze me. So many interesting facts and connections arise ... American Communist Records ... who knew?
James.